It's Time for the Pirates to Call up Paul Skenes

The FanGraphs Newsletter, April 19, 2024 [READ IN BROWSER]( April 19, 2024 Pitching for Triple-A Indianapolis on Thursday, Paul Skenes extended his streak of scoreless innings to 12 2/3 to start the season. In his fourth start, Skenes whiffed eight of the 14 batters he faced against the St. Paul Saints, Minnesota’s Triple-A affiliate. Skenes is the best prospect according to our prospect rankings, so I doubt I have to use too much of this space to convince you that Skenes is an impressive talent. Across nine professional starts since being the first pick in the 2023 draft, he has struck out an eye-popping 37 batters in 19 1/3 innings, just under half of all batters he’s faced. In addition to those strikeouts, he’s allowed just four walks – this is not a case of a flamethrower with only a casual acquaintance with the strike zone – and has yet to allow a professional homer. He ranked only fifth among pitching prospects in the [ZiPS Top 100]( which may not sound quite as electrifying, but given that ZiPS is designed to be suspicious of players with almost no professional experience, it was high praise to consider him that highly after he’d recorded only 6 2/3 innings as a professional before 2024. Skenes throws hard, and entering Thursday’s game, he had the highest average fastball velocity of any Triple-A pitcher. Suffice it to say, Thursday didn’t do anything to change where Skenes lands on this ever-so-slightly dated ranking, as his 41 fastballs against St. Paul averaged 100.5 mph. His slowest fastball traveled at 99.1 mph, enough that it would be the offering of a lifetime for many pitchers. Adding in his most recent start, his contact rate on those fastballs is the third lowest in Triple-A (min. 30 fastballs), behind only Edwin Uceta and Mason Englert. [Read More]( [If You Want To Throw Heat, Get it Out of the Kitchen]( Reid Detmers has been nearly unhittable over his first four starts. You can absolutely guess how he's doing it. | by Michael Baumann [Five Things I Liked (Or Didn't Like) This Week, April 19]( Old legends, young upstarts, and jaw-dropping defense highlight this week's edition of Five Things. | by Ben Clemens [Top of the Order: The Thin Twins Lineup Can’t Hit Righties]( Minnesota’s offense badly needs a boost. Plus, the breakout reliever du jour and a top prospect debut. | by Jon Becker [How Many Times Have MLB Players Heard "Centerfield" by John Fogerty?]( Spoiler alert: It's a lot. | by Davy Andrews [Hey, These Padres Are Still Pretty Good]( Teams that lose a superstar and a Cy Young winner after an 82-win season normally aren’t playoff contenders the next year. But who called the Padres normal? | by Leo Morgenstern 🎧 [Effectively Wild Episode 2153: Whoops it Up]( [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [How Corey Seager's constant pursuit of perfection created MLB's most beautiful swing]( by Jeff Passan, ESPN [Meet the pitcher who throws 95 mph with both arms]( by Matt Monagan, MLB [Could the woeful White Sox lose more than the ’62 Mets? They’re off to a great start!]( by Jayson Stark, The Athletic ($) [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2024 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 3017 N Underwood StArlington, VA 22213 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](